Remington (The Theriot Family 1)

He stopped toying with me, and I wanted to beg him to keep touching me. When he met my gaze, his eyes were dark and full of lust. “Talk to me, Henri. I’ve waited long enough.”

“I… um… I wanted to see if I could find out if you were involved in the… um… murder. I didn’t know how or what I might find, but I was scared.”

“How did you get into my laptop? Nothing I discovered about you indicated that you had hacker skills.”

“I don’t. I only know the most basic things about computers. I just started thinking about what you might have used for the password, and I figured it out. It wasn’t hard to guess when I thought about what seemed important to you in this house. I remembered seeing your cello and being fascinated by it and the music you’d selected. I took a guess and it worked.”

Remington studied me for a few seemingly endless moments before saying, “What other secrets did you learn once you guessed the password?”

“I… um… learned that you or your family were at least partly responsible for those murders.” I shivered, and Remington’s eyes widened for a second. He was turned on by my fear.

“Let me tell you about those men I killed. They sold kids drugs that they’d cut with who the fuck knows what in order to increase their profit margins. They didn’t care what happened to the kids who bought their fucked-up product. Did the news where you were report on the night three kids died in a club here? And then another two the next weekend? That was their shit that killed those kids. Killing those assholes was a favor to the community.”

“And to your family?” Oh God, why did I say that?

He smiled. “You seem so sweet, but there is an edge to you, isn’t there?”

“Um…”

“Yes, it benefitted us as well, but would you rather those men were still out there?”

I stared up at him. “No.”

He continued to glare at me.

“No… sir.”

He smiled, but he didn’t look happy. He looked… hungry. “What else did you learn?”

I might as well tell him. He could do whatever he wanted to me. I was tied to his bed, and he already knew I’d been on his laptop. “You had a folder… that… um… It was labeled Bob Gayle.”

His expression changed for just a second, and he looked… worried? Oh shit.

“Did you look inside?”

I wanted to tell him I hadn’t, but I was sure he would know I was lying. “Yes. I saw notes about what he’d done, links to articles about him, and information you knew before he was arrested.” What was the point in lying? I might as well just tell it all. “Did you… did you work with him?”

His expression shifted from arrogant interrogator to pure rage. Remington had been the first client who hadn’t made me fear for my life. When I’d taken my cousin up on his offer, I’d known my chance of dying was high, but I didn’t want it to happen now.

“Think what you want of me,” Remington said, voice flat. “I freely admit I’ve killed, and I will kill again.”

Fuck. Was there any chance he’d let me live after saying that to me?

“But I don’t kill the innocent. I don’t con the elderly and let them die without the medicine they need.”

I was absolutely sure he was telling the truth. “I’m sorry. I was scared. You wouldn’t tell me anything else about yourself, and I’m staying here with you, and…”

“Why didn’t you leave? You could have run as soon as you saw that folder?”

It was a damn good question. I hated that I was stuck there on my back, looking up at him. I wriggled, pulling at the belt that bound my wrists.

“Stop. You’ll only hurt yourself. Even if you get your wrists free, you won’t get away from me.”

I sank back into the mattress. “I thought about it. I told myself I should just get away, that anyone who was in any way connected with that man wasn’t safe to be with, that money didn’t matter that much.”

“But you stayed.”

I nodded.

“Why?”

I’d confessed to so much, but this was beyond me. “I don’t know.”

He traced a finger down the side of my throat. “I think you do. Tell me.”

My breath caught, and I looked up at him. That was a mistake. The heat in his eyes burned me. “I should never have come here.”

“You never had a choice.”

He was right, and I wasn’t upset because Remington had brought me here, I was upset because I didn’t want to leave. I was mesmerized by him.

“I want you.” The words were so soft I wasn’t sure he’d heard them until I saw his most predatory smile. He flattened his hand and slid it along my chest, over my abdomen, and then gripped my cock tight enough to hurt. I gasped and arched up into his touch.